Germany top destination for foreign investment

Despite a drop in foreign investment worldwide Germany has managed to attract more overseas money to domestic projects, according to Wirtschaftswoche magazine.

Düsseldorf was the most popular destination for foreign investors in Germany, followed by Berlin and Frankfurt.

Düsseldorf was ranked 13th worldwide on the list of top cities attracting foreign investments with a 256 percent increase, supported by large investments from international telecommunications firms like Vodafone, Ericsson and the Chinese company ZTE.

The data, which compared 2011 levels to 2010, showed a 77 percent increase in foreign investment in Germany resulting from 600 projects that created 26,000 new jobs.

Germany bucked the worldwide trend, where the economic and financial crises made investors much less likely to fund overseas projects. Worldwide foreign investment dropped eight percent in 2011 over the previous year.

Developing countries were hardest hit by the decline, with foreign investment down 21 percent in India, three percent in Brazil, 13 percent in Russia and 15 percent in China. Uncertain economic conditions were behind the decline, the study said.

Germany was able to profit from a trend for foreigners to fund smaller rather than large projects, especially in the consumer sector. Mature markets in which consumers have a strong buying power, as in Germany, were the winners. Foreign investment in the retail and wholesale sector rose by 400 percent, compared to an international increase of 61 percent, the study said.

I'm surprised that the fact that Great Britain has now surpassed France in becoming Germany's biggest global trading partner, hasn't apparently been deemed even worth a mention in any of the online German publications I've looked at over the last couple of days.

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